Bringing EE Life Into Your Actual Life

He blows up laptops, plays high voltage, and hacks tasers. For Caleb Kraft, it's all in a day's work. Say hi to Caleb, EE Times's new EE Life editor.

In the immediate future you will be seeing much more of me. I'm Caleb Kraft, and I'm joining the EE Times team. I'm still figuring out everything I'll be doing both here at EE Times as well as at Design West, but I know I'll be diving right into EE Life as soon as I can.

What I would like to bring to EE Life is more coverage of what engineers are doing at home.

Engineers are engineers all the time, not only at work. I typically think of engineering as a lifestyle or mindset more than an educational achievement. I have a son who was obviously born an engineer, and I'm sure several of you can identify with that sentiment. There's a tendency to obsess over a problem and to follow an analytical path to a solution, often even when another solution is presented midway.

I'd like to jump in and find out what you are doing when you're "relaxing" (obsessing over something other than your day job). I'd like to share the problems you encounter in your garage, basement, or workshop. You know that quick modification you made to that appliance when you were annoyed with the original design? I want to know about that.

These ideas are more about you than anything else, so I'll be relying on you to help shape what we cover. Your comments and emails will be as important as the stories themselves, so please don't hesitate to jump in and let me know what you think.

Welcome Caleb, to EETimes!!! I can't wait to start sharing the project I'm about to start here and getting some technical support at the same time! I have a 'stachecam that was designed by the intrepid Jason Kridner that is having some technical problems and am about to take off the case and start learning about the beaglebone inside. What's your current project???

Wow, we're getting our comment quota in today! Yes, Max, if you had read my message carefully, you would have seen that I was suggesting you teach the class! Or I can just ask the professional, Caleb, to teach it. ;-) Seriously, a class like that might end up dimming all the lights in Oakland, CA, where The Crucible is located. It might even blow out Pixar in Emeryville. Ok, now I'm getting too localized.

Engineers, what are the places in neighborhood offer interesting classes for electronics tinkerers? Post them here in the comment section.

@Max: What??? That's a bit of a slap in the face. I R an Engineer, you know!

Actually, Max, think of it as a challenge not an insult. Time for a Tesla Coil smackdown! There is a good venue for it in the East Bay. A frequent Maker-Faire particpant is The Crucible, where you can take classes on welding, firebreathing, machine shop, kinetics and electronics (including this class "Demystifying Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)" and "Earn Your Ham Radio License In Two Days!" Maybe you should teach a DIY Tesla Coil-making class. I would definitely take the class.

@Caleb: How are people supposed to contact me to share their projects? I'll have to remedy this.

I think they are working on adding the ability for members to enter a real bio (inc contact details) ... in the meantime, maybe you could add a "boilerplate" to the bottom of each of your blogs saying "email me at ..."

Yeah, I'm still learning the system here. I guess I assumed my contact information would be readily available on the site (like in a profile linked to my name in the byline). I see now that it is not. How are people supposed to contact me to share their projects? I'll have to remedy this.

Haha, yeah, I think maybe she meant un-professionals like Caleb. I'm sure pretty much any EE can build a better tesla coil than me, but I'm the guy who will put on a costume and run around in a crowd acting like an idiot with it.